Germany: iHumidor Application

Source from:  cigaraficionado  04/07/2013

If you need to know what is going on in your humidor at all times, it should come as no surprise that there is an iPhone app for that. Seeing how parents can track their kids, teenagers can stalk their favorite celebs and brokers can monitor the market, why not use a monitor for a more noble pursuit: keeping constant tabs on your own cigars?

German company Gerber GmbH has made this somewhat voyeuristic approach to your puros possible with the iHumidor application. Not only does Gerber produce ultrasophisticated humidors, but they enable the owners to monitor and control aspects like real-time humidity and temperature right from their iPhones. The range of control depends, of course, on the level of options your humidor is equipped with. If your operation is simple, with, say, only a passive humidifier, then you can simply log on with your iPhone and get the relative humidity and temperature from wherever you are. If your set-up is more complicated with such things as an active humidification system, air-flow controls, LED illumination, water levels and antibacterial UV light, the iHumidor app grants complete control of all functions from your phone as well.
 
It starts out with a small touchscreen integrated into a freestanding column situated outside the humidor, but connected to the inside functions by cables. This is your computer control base and allows you to easily and intuitively program your humidor's specs electronically. Once you've set up all parameters from the touchscreen, the computer sends your humidor's vital statistics to an external database every 10 seconds via the Internet. The iHumidor app can then give iPhone users a read-out on the humidor's operational specs from any location on the planet.
 
Theoretically, any humidor that is large enough can be retrofitted with the column (called SPS, German initials for programable logic control), but Gerber maintains that installations are best when using their own custom humidors. If customization isn't in the budget, Gerber does produce one standard humidor that seamlessly accepts the SPS system—the Humidor No. 1. It's a 43-inch-wide by 86-inch-high cabinet humidor with cross-flow ventilation, UV disinfection lights, water filtration and a Spanish Cedar interior construction designed to support maximum airflow and ideal relative humidity. Fully enabled, it costs around $26,600. Enditem